


The Prince and the Ninja

by RaaorQtpbpdy



Category: Baka to Test to Shokanju | Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Japanese Folklore, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Childhood Trauma, Dark Past, Depressing Childhoods, Escape, Implied Past Suicide Attempt(s), Implied Sexual Content, Imprisonment, M/M, Magic, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Ninja, Quests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24346528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaaorQtpbpdy/pseuds/RaaorQtpbpdy
Summary: Japanese Folklore/Fairytale AU in which Hideyoshi is a prince locked away in a palace on the cliffside, trapped there by his wicked sister so that she could steal his throne, and when she sends Kouta, a ninja, to kill him, he falls in love with Hideyoshi and helps him escape and reclaim his throne instead.
Relationships: Kinoshita Hideyoshi/Tsuchiya Kouta
Kudos: 10





	1. The Empress' Villainy

A long time ago, in the land of the sun, there was a prince whose name was Hideyoshi. He was kind, charismatic, and exceedingly beautiful, with smooth, pale skin; delicate, graceful features; and eyes like sparkling emeralds.

In addition to his other admirable qualities, Prince Hideyoshi also possessed many magical powers. Firstly, he had the power to sway the heart and mind of anyone with his enchanting voice. Secondly, he could disguise himself with illusions to look however he wished. Thirdly, some say, his magic could make anyone fall helplessly in love with him in moments, though others claim that it was simply the nature of the prince himself that ensnared so many to fall.

Hideyoshi had a twin sister named Yuuko, who looked much like her brother, and, despite her intellect, her athleticism, and the fact that she was a lovely maiden in her own right, was always jealous of her brother for his magic, and superior beauty. Her jealousy was further aggravated by the knowledge that, no matter how much she longed to be ruler of the country, her brother was their family's heir, and so _he_ would ascend to the throne.

In his youth, Hideyoshi was mild-mannered and beloved by all. However, as he aged, his magical powers grew to a dangerous extent, and became harder for him to control, and for his own safety, and the safety of the country and its people, Hideyoshi's family locked him away in a palace on the side of a tall, sheer cliff overlooking the ocean, guarded by four hundred warrior-beasts, alone save for nine spirit-servants.

And though, in the palace on the cliffside, Hideyoshi wanted for nothing—there was always plentiful food, water, and clothes, and he had many books to read, and the spirit-servants kept everything clean and tidy, and sometimes played music or performed dances for him—the prince became terribly lonely, for the spirit-servants could neither touch him nor communicate with him, and he had no contact at all with the outside world.

During the long years trapped in the palace on the cliffside, Hideyoshi did try to escape, but the spirit-servants would not allow it. They sealed the doors and windows so he could not leave the palace. In case he did manage to slip out, they lit a ring of fire around the palace so he could not go far. If he should pass through the fire, they would summon fog and and wind so he would become hopelessly lost and turned around, and end up right back where he began. For Prince Hideyoshi, there was no escape.

After six years tucked away in solitude in the palace on the cliffside, the prince's father and mother died of a terrible illness. Seeing her opportunity, the jealous Princess Yuuko did not send word to her brother about their parents' deaths, nor did she make or allow any attempt to retrieve him from his isolation so he could ascend to the throne. Instead, Princess Yuuko claimed the throne herself, and punished any who dared to defy her.

The people of the country feared their new, self-proclaimed Empress Yuuko, and some made attempts to rescue the prince whom they had loved so much from the palace which had become his prison, so that he might take his rightful place from her, but none prevailed. The warrior beasts, which had been given orders to allow none but the royal family to come to the palace on the cliffside to see the prince, killed all who tried to reach Hideyoshi.

 _Samurai_ , _ashigaru_ , _sohei_ , and all manner of warriors and heroes were slain by the warrior-beasts which guarded the palace on the cliffside in their attempts to rescue their prince, their only hope. When Yuuko discovered these attempts, she sent warriors and soldiers of her own to assassinate her brother so that none could question her right to rule. They all failed, and none returned. For two years, none made it past the four hundred warrior-beasts, to save the prince, nor to kill him.

After so many scores of people tried and failed to get past the warrior-beasts, Yuuko did something she had been told all her life not to do. Yuuko summoned a ninja to her throne room. She had been warned as a child that these elusive killers were not to be taken lightly. Many of her advisors and generals told her to think very carefully before taking such drastic action. They were afraid, and rightly so, but Empress Yuuko was not afraid.

Upon her summons, the secretive ninja clan sent a _shinobi_ to the empress. She did not know he was there, nor did anyone, until suddenly he was in the very center of her throne room, kneeling respectfully with his head bowed. Yuuko's advisors and aides began to shift and fidget nervously at the appearance of such a dangerous and lethal assassin. The reputation of a ninja, was not a pleasant one.

The lower half of the _shinobi's_ face was hidden, and his body was entirely clothed in loose robes black as a moonless, starless night, his hands wrapped in bandages, his feet shod in leather _tabi_ , but his hair was visible, the color of the sea on an overcast day, just before a harsh, unforgiving storm hit, and it stuck out like battering waves. His grey eyes brought to mind the hardest of stones, and betrayed absolutely nothing.

"You called for a _shinobi_ , your majesty," the ninja said. His voice was steady, but quiet, sounding as though it did not get much use. "I have come at your request. For what do you require my services?"

"What is your name, warrior?" the empress asked.

"I am not a warrior." The ninja looked up and met the empress' eyes. The coldness she saw there sent a shiver down her spine which she could not suppress. "To be such requires honor, and we _shinobi_ have none. You need not know my name, for once I have carried out your bidding, we will not meet again. Now once more I ask: for what do you require my services?"

"I would have you to infiltrate the palace on the cliffside, and kill the prince who lives there," Yuuko answered, sitting stiff and proper, keeping a close eye on the ninja. "I warn you, it is a dangerous mission, for the palace is guarded by four hundred warrior-beasts which have killed every man who has tried to reach it, but should you return alive, with proof of my brother's death, you shall be rewarded handsomely, with quantities of wealth you can only imagine. Do you accept this quest?"

"It is not in the nature of a ninja to refuse work, nor to back down from a challenge," the Shinobi said. "I accept." Then he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Empress Yuuko did not know whether the ninja would succeed, whether he would even survive the treacherous quest which had cost so many others their lives. Little did she know that she would indeed, see him again, much to her displeasure.

The ninja traveled to the edge of the country, far away from any populated areas, to where the palace on the cliffside stood. From the forest at the edge of the estate, hidden in the tree branches overlooking the site of so many slaughters, he saw the skeletal corpses of all the fallen warriors who had come before him, brave and honorable men who had staged frontal assaults on so many creatures so much stronger than they, and been killed, torn apart, and eaten by their enemies—not always in that order.

The ninja did not weep for them, nor did their bones riddled with bite marks cause him to falter. They were not his dead to mourn, and he he had no plans to join them in the otherworld that day. He gazed past them with indifference to the place where the warrior-beasts were gathered. Four hundred creatures, or thereabouts, armored and armed, prepared to fight and kill anyone who trespassed. He was skilled in the art of assassination, but he had no illusions of defeating them all to gain entry, such would be a needless risk, and a waste of valuable energy.

The sun was high in the sky, and time was not short, so the ninja reclined in the tree branches, dined on some bread and dried meat. Above him, he saw a lusciously ripened peach on the tree in which he obscured himself, and climbed to the topmost branches to pick it. As he bit into the sweet, juicy fruit, he looked out past the bloody battlefield, past the bones of the dead, past the four hundred warrior-beasts, and he saw it: the palace on the cliffside.

It was modest, for a palace, the ninja thought to himself, which made sense if it was indeed built to house only one person. Despite the carnage stretched out before it, the palace looked peaceful, pleasant, even. The ninja had not asked the empress why she wanted her brother dead. It wasn't part of his job to judge her motives, and to remain impartial, he'd always avoided all subjects related to politics, but he did wonder.

He had been a child, no more than twelve, when the prince, whom he knew to be about the same age as himself, had been locked away there, and that had been eight years before. The prince had spent eight years alone, during which time his parents had died, and his sister had ascended to the throne. He did not know why Prince Hideyoshi had been locked away, perhaps he had done something unforgivable—the _shinobi_ had done many such things by the time he was twelve—or perhaps he was cursed.

As the ninja pondered the possibilities, the sun sunk in the sky, and just before it began to set, the ninja circled around the estate, around the battlefield with the corpses and the warrior beasts, around through the edge of the forest, to the sea, which had no beach, but struck violently against an unyielding cliff-face. And when the ninja got there, he began to climb.

He scaled the entirety of the cliffside by the light of the full moon. The wind whipped at him, but he would not be swayed. The sharp edges of the rocks dug into his hands, but he ignored the biting pain. The entire cliff-face was slippery and soaked, but he never allowed his grip to fail. The only time his pace slowed was when the huge waves came plummeting towards him, and he paused to brace himself against their bone-breaking force, and then continued until the next great wave came crashing in.

He reached the palace on the cliffside, drenching wet, hands bloody, body bruised, and climbed onto the balcony which overlooked the sea. If his soggy footprints, and trail of saltwater were found, it would alert the prince to his presence, so he knew he would have to act quickly. It was well after midnight, but there were a few hours yet before the prince would awaken.

From a distance, the palace had looked very small, and it was, compared to other, grander palaces, but it was undoubtedly a palace. In his search for the prince's bedchamber, the ninja found a dining room, a court, a bath. Thinking it prudent to wring out his garments before the steady drip of water which came from them awoke his prey, he did so in the bathroom, drying himself on one of the prince's soft towels before putting his clothes back on, now only slightly damp and itchy with salt and sand, then continued his search.

He found three guest chambers, which seemed superfluous in a palace made for one, before he came upon the prince's bedroom and unsheathed a blade from the folds of his clothes, preparing to make his kill. The light of the moon streamed through the window and fell upon the prince's sleeping form, and it was mesmerizing. The ninja did not know for how long he stood there, blade in hand, drinking in the radiant beauty of the prince, but soon enough, the prince began to stir. In an instant, the ninja hid himself, blade still in hand, though he no longer thought to use it. By the time Prince Hideyoshi opened his eyes, the ninja was entirely invisible to him.

"Oh," the prince muttered sadly. "For a moment I could swear I felt someone's presence watching over me. What a shame that it was only a dream." A brief gust of wind blew through the room, and on it was a set of fine clothes for the prince to wear, and the translucent form of a young woman appeared, hovering mere millimeters from the floor. The prince frowned bitterly at her. "Honestly, I do not see why you always set out clothes for me. It's not as though there is anyone to dress for. I might as well spend all my time in my night clothes or better yet, entirely naked, and never bathe, or brush my hair, and eat myself sick until I am fat and ugly, because I am never going to see another living person in my life."

The spirit-servant said nothing, for it could not speak, but it looked stern, and supplied a hairbrush for the prince, who sighed, but accepted it, and began to pull it through his long, brown hair. He dressed in his fine clothes, and put on sweet smelling perfume, and allowed the spirit-servant to escort him out of his bedchamber.

He would return eventually, and when he did, the ninja had a job to do. However, from the very first moment he saw the prince, he immediately fell desperately in love, and he could no longer bring himself to do the task he had set out to do. He resolved to leave at the first opportunity, and never return. The Empress Yuuko would assume that he'd died at the hands of the warrior-beasts, the other ninjas would scold and berate him, but Prince Hideyoshi would not die by his hand.

He crept silently out of the prince's chambers, through the hallways of the palace, and back to the balcony. When he arrived, however, the prince was already there, leaning on the wall. The ninja stopped out of sight to wait until the prince moved on, but he simply stood there for a long time, then he pushed himself up onto the wall of the balcony, and stood atop it, arms reaching out to his sides like a bird prepared to take flight, and eyes falling closed.

The ninja's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, and when the prince leaned forward, he darted out of his hiding place and grabbed him by the ankle with one hand. Prince Hideyoshi gasped, utterly shocked by the sensation. Then an unnaturally powerful gust of wind came straight up from below, and blew the prince back onto the balcony. Now that he was safe, the ninja disappeared again before the prince could see him clearly. He was but a shadow, a trick of the light.

There was silence, and the prince sat on the ground, head whipping around in search of the hand that had grabbed him, and more importantly, whoever that hand was attached to. He slowly stood up, still gazing around, and began to investigate the balcony more thoroughly. Then, hesitantly, he began to speak.

"I did _not_ imagine that," he said cautiously. "I have not felt the touch of another person in eight years, not even in my dreams. I know someone must be here, somewhere. Thank you for saving me, and I am sorry if I frightened you, but you needn't have worried. The spirit-servants never let me fall. It's their job to make sure I never leave this place."

The ninja held his breath, even as he felt a pang in his chest at the knowledge that this was not the first time the prince had done that. He must have been so unbelievably, unimaginably, unbearably lonely. The ninja wondered how long the prince had been trying to escape via the balcony, how long he'd been trying to jump.

"My name is Hideyoshi," the prince said. "Who are you? Where are you?" The ninja did not answer. After another long stretch of silence, the prince began to cry. He fell to his knees and wept tears of anguish, of despair, of loneliness. A few of the spirit-servants appeared and circled him causing gentle breezes to comfort him which ruffled his hair and dried some of his tears, but more streamed down his face.

Completely against his training, against every thought in his head, against every instinct he had, the ninja came out of hiding, knelt before the prince, and ever-so-gently brushed away his tears. The prince opened his eyes to see the ninja, and before he could think, even consider who or what this stranger was, Hideyoshi threw himself into the stranger's arms, and continued to weep.

It was over an hour before the prince stopped crying, but when he finally did and the last of his sniffs faded away, he remained in the intruder's arms, holding on tightly and refusing to let go. If he'd wanted to, the ninja could have easily escaped the prince's grasp, but he didn't.

"Who are you?" the prince asked finally.

"I'm Shinobi, your highness. I can't say my name."

"Come now, brave Shinobi," the prince said. "Who am I going to tell? I have been alone in this palace for nearly half of my life, and at this rate, I may still be here when I have grown old and white-haired. So there is no harm in telling _me_ your name, is there?"

"My name is... Kouta," the ninja said.

"Kouta... I cannot possibly express to you how nice it is to hear your voice, to feel your touch." The prince sighed blissfully. "I know it is terribly inappropriate to touch like this, so I offer my apologies, but I simply cannot bring myself to care. I do hope I am not making you too uncomfortable."

"It's fine, your highness."

"You need not call me highness, Kouta. You may call me Hideyoshi, and in-point-of-fact, I insist upon it."

"Very well... Hideyoshi." The prince sighed again, and finally pulled away, though his hands still lingered. Kouta reached out to carefully rub at his tear-stained cheeks, then helped him to his feet.

"Join me for a meal?" Hideyoshi requested, both arms wrapped around one of Kouta's, as if he thought letting their contact end for even a moment would cause Kouta to disappear like one of the spirits. "I am sure the spirit-servants have had breakfast ready for some time while we sat there, and you must be hungry."

"Not really," Kouta answered, still making no attempt to break away from the prince's hold. "Shinobi may go a month without food, and I ate just yesterday."

"Well that is rightly terrifying," Hideyoshi said, unperturbed. Perhaps living in total solitude for eight years did make one a little strange. "But why don't you eat with me anyway? It's not as though it will kill you to have a meal two days in a row, now will it?"

"I'm sorry your hi—Hideyoshi, but I can't stay." Kouta finally, reluctantly pried his arm away from the prince, whose beautiful face was now painted with a heart-wrenching frown. "I was just about to leave when I saw you on the balcony."

"And you will not be returning, will you?" If he'd had anymore tears to shed, his eyes would have dampened once more, but instead, he just looked completely heartbroken, which in many ways was worse. 

"No, I don't believe I will," Kouta said.

"Why did you come in the first place?" Hideyoshi asked softly, the beginnings of rage flickering like embers behind his eyes. "Why give me a taste of the human interaction I have so desperately craved all these years, only to wrench it away so soon afterwards?"

"Your sister the empress sent me to kill you," Kouta said. He didn't sugarcoat it. Perhaps if Hideyoshi knew his true purpose, he wouldn't be sad to see him go. "But I couldn't do it."

"The empress? But what about mother and father?"

"They died two years ago and your sister took the crown."

"But my sister was not the heir... she was supposed to come and release me when it came time for me to rule. I can control it now. I should have been freed long ago. I should have taken my rightful place when my parents... my parents... mother and father... are dead... How did it happen?"

"Illness, as I understand it."

"Illness? How much pain they must have been in, at the end. I should have been there. They should have come to me." Kouta stood idly by, watching with forced apathy as Hideyoshi's fragile mind began to fracture. He resisted every urge to comfort the prince, and instead, leaped over the balcony, and began to scale down the cliffside.

"So that's it, then‽" Hideyoshi shouted over the wall of the balcony, watching the ninja made his way back down. "Come to kill me, then deliver news of my parents death and my sister's theft of my position with intent to let me waste away here, then leave me here all alone again‽" Kouta utilized his training to disappear, even on the sheer cliffside, out of Hideyoshi's sight. He couldn't bear to hear the poor prince suffering anymore. It was better for everyone if he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd finish this story in like a week, but it ended up taking me over a month. Whoops. It's finished, but I'm posting as I edit, so it won't all be up at once. Thanks for reading this, and Please leave comments and let me know what you think, because I'm in rare pair hell, and I've never been her before so I don't really know what I'm doing asdjklfgh. Love y'all.
> 
> <3 Raaor!


	2. The Fall of the Palace on the Cliffside

Shortly thereafter, Kouta found himself in the village nearest the palace on the cliffside, which was small and many miles away, but his mind was full of nothing but the prince, leaving no room for anything else. Every time he saw a woman, he couldn't help but compare her beauty to Hideyoshi's, and none came close. Every breeze reminded him of the spirit-servants, and every bird-song reminded him of Hideyoshi's sweet voice.

It wasn't long before the ninja could no longer withstand the distance between himself and Hideyoshi, and he set out that night to return to the palace via the sheer cliff-face overlooking the ocean.

Prince Hideyoshi, for his part, had been finding himself on the balcony every single day, staring wistfully out at the sea, longing desperately for his taste of the outside world to return. He had been unable to sleep or eat properly since the ninja's first appearance, and the name Kouta was never far from his lips. When he saw Kouta's storm grey hair popping up over the edge of the balcony, he reached out with no hesitation and pulled Kouta to his side of the wall, embracing him tightly.

"You returned!" Hideyoshi rejoiced, paying no mind to the ninja's bloody hands and damp clothes. "I'm so glad to see you again, Kouta!"

"Me too," Kouta admitted quietly, slowly returning the prince's embrace. "I was afraid you would be angry with me."

"What use have I to be angry at the only person I've met in eight years?" Hideyoshi laughed. "The only person who's held me, and wiped away my tears. I missed you dearly Kouta."

"And what if I had only returned to finish my job, to kill you?"

"I could hardly fault you for that, and nor would I be angry with you." Kouta felt the prince's grip tighten. "There are many days I think death would be preferable to living like this, and since I had a taste of humanity, those days have increased in frequency. I have grown used to many things, living alone all this time, but I've never stopped longing for the touch of another person."

"I'm sorry, Hideyoshi. That sounds like a horrible way to live."

"Indeed... will you stay for a while this time?"

"There's no place I'd rather be."

"Share a meal with me then?" Hideyoshi asked, pulling away just enough to see Kouta's softly smiling face, but not letting go. "I assume you haven't eaten in the days since last we met."

"I suppose a meal wouldn't kill me."

"Wonderful." Hideyoshi smiled, and it was like the first glimpse of sunlight after a typhoon.

The two ate together. Hideyoshi made Kouta bathe, and had the spirit-servants bring him clean clothes, and that night, though the palace had several spare rooms, the prince asked if they could share his own chambers. Though Kouta was flustered at first, when he realized the request was entirely innocent, made by a thoroughly touch-starved prince who'd had no human interaction at all since the age of twelve, he agreed.

They spent all their time together the next few weeks. Kouta would sit at the table while the prince ate every day, sometimes partaking himself, sometimes not, and they would talk. Hideyoshi relayed memories of his youth, his family, the servants and officers at the imperial palace, how he would sometimes be permitted to go into town and greet the people, and how he always loved talking with them, before he was sent to the palace on the cliffside.

Hideyoshi was surprised when Kouta asked why he'd been sent away in the first place, for he'd thought that everyone knew, but he told Kouta about his magic, and how it had grown out of his control, but he'd managed to master it eventually, having little else to do with so much free time. Then he showed off some of his magic to Kouta's wonderment. The ninja had seen magic before, but none like Hideyoshi's.

Kouta, in turn, after significant badgering from the prince, who wanted to know more about his new house-guest, relayed much darker tales of his own youth. The rigorous and abusive training he'd gone through since birth to become a shinobi, the same training which his younger sister had not survived, and the deaths of his older two older brothers by consuming poisoned food.

As he told the prince about his childhood with the brutal and merciless ninja clan, from the sleepless nights and torturous punishments, to his first assignment at the tender age of eight and being summoned by the empress to assassinate her own brother, Hideyoshi wept sympathetic tears, and Kouta didn't know how to comfort him.

"Now Hideyoshi," he said, wrapping an arm around the prince's shoulders, and pulling him into his side. Kouta was in unfamiliar territory when it came to compassion and empathy, but he knew that physical contact always seemed to calm the prince and make him happier, so that's what he fell back on. "It's nothing to cry over, it's just my life. It's how I was raised, and I'm used to it. I think you have it worse, living alone all this time."

"No... to grow up in an environment so void of love... that's the saddest fate of all..." Hideyoshi cried. "Even alone I had the affectionate faces of the spirit-servants, and I took them for granted when you had _no_ _one_ who truly loved and cared for you."

"Ninjas can't afford to get attached," Kouta said, wrapping his other arm around the prince in an attempt to ease his heartbreak. "Especially to children who could die at any moment, like my siblings did. I don't blame them. It would have been foolish of them to love and care for me."

"Then I shall love you," Hideyoshi turned, and his emerald eyes stared intensely into Kouta's own, stone-grey and wide with shock at the prince's sudden declaration. "I shall love you enough for all those who could not love you in your youth out of fear, and those who cannot love you now out of ignorance."

After taking a moment to recover from his surprise, Kouta said, "Don't you know there's no point loving a cold and heartless ninja?"

"You're not cold or heartless," Hideyoshi insisted, sinking back onto Kouta. "You're warm, and kind, and even if you were cold and heartless, I'd love you anyway. Everyone deserves love, even if it can only come from one person. I said I'd love you Kouta, and you can't deny a prince, so accept it."

"Very well," Kouta submitted, after overcoming a second bout of surprise. "In that case, I'll love you too, as much as my shrunken heart can."

"You don't have a shrunken heart." Hideyoshi's head rested on Kouta's chest, where he sighed with content and listened intently to the rhythmic beating. "I can hear it, just as strong and steady as anyone else's would. I know that with this heart, you can love me."

They danced that night. Kouta had never danced before, but Hideyoshi taught him, and they swayed and spun to sweet music played by the spirit-servants, who smiled to see their prince so happy, happier than they'd ever seen him. During the next several days, Kouta painted a portrait of the prince to pass the time. He made each stroke of the brush with great care, endeavoring to capture the prince's surpassing beauty.

After over a month together, when the moon was full, just as it had been when Kouta came to the palace on the cliffside for the first time, Hideyoshi invited Kouta into his chambers, as he did every night. However, his intentions that night were not so innocent as they had been before.

He led Kouta into his chambers, calloused and scarred hand clasped within Hideyoshi's own, and when they were alone, he brought Kouta's lips to his, ever so slowly, ever so gently. Kouta's rough but tender hand carded through Hideyoshi's long hair as they kissed, and Hideyoshi allowed his robes to slip from his shoulders. It wasn't long before the two were caught in the throes of passion.

Kouta woke first the following morning, as he always did, and smiled at his sleeping prince, heart overflowing. He brushed Hideyoshi's hair from his face, and shook him gently awake. The prince moaned with sleep, but cracked his eyes open, and returned Kouta's smile with languid contentment. Kouta carried the prince to the bath and washed him, dressed him, and brushed his silky hair.

"I do not believe I have ever been so happy in all my life," Hideyoshi said as they traded feather-light kisses over breakfast. "Only one thing could make me happier."

"And what's that?" Kouta asked lightly.

"The only thing I still wish for, now that you're with me, is freedom from this palace. I want to return home, and rule as I was always meant to, with you at my side. I know that my sister is not a woman of the people, she never understood them, and doesn't know how to govern them in a way that suits their needs. I hate knowing that my people are suffering and I cannot do anything about it."

"I've never heard you talk about this before..." Kouta placed a reassuring hand on his prince's arm.

"I try not to linger on it as there is nothing I can do, and yet..."

"I understand," Kouta sighed and closed his eyes, frowning in thought. "Well, I suppose there's nothing else for it. I'll just have to help you escape this place."

"It will not be that easy. The spirit servants are sworn not to allow me to escape, and even if we manage to get past them, there's still the four hundred warrior-beasts, which won't attack me, but they will kill you as soon as they see you. I have tried for years to escape this place, and never once gotten farther than the garden."

"Have you forgotten that I am a ninja. Do not underestimate me."

The ninja laid out a plan, and that very night, began to put it into action. He snuck out of the palace, toward the warrior-beasts, and swiftly and silently killed those that slept. This continued for twenty nights. The ninja sneaking into the warrior-beasts' encampment well after dark and slaughtering all those that slept before returning to his beloved in the palace.

After the twentieth night, however, the warrior-beasts realized that the attacks were not coming from the battlefield, but from within the castle itself, for no one could get past the beasts on watch to kill those that slept in the encampment. Realizing that someone, somehow, must have gotten past them, the remaining warrior-beasts, which now numbered less than one hundred stormed the palace on the cliffside to kill the intruder.

But, in addition to being strong, and ruthless, ninjas are clever. When the warrior-beasts attacked, Kouta quickly hid his prince in the garden, away from the action, then attracted the attention of the beasts. He dodged and evaded the warrior-beasts, running for his life as they stampeded after him, but never disappeared from their sight.

He let them cause a ruckus, let their powerful hooves and paws and feet thump heavily upon the ground over and over until the cliffside began to shake, but the warrior-beasts were too preoccupied with catching the ninja to realize what was happening. Finally, the stomping and shaking became too great, and the palace and the cliffside both began to crumble. With one final jump from the ninja, everything collapsed, falling into the sea, the palace, the cliffside, the 9 spirit-servants, and what remained of the four-hundred warrior-beasts, as well as the ninja.

Hideyoshi cried out to his love as everything fell, tears forming in his eyes, until the dust settled, and he saw Kouta clinging to what remained of the cliffside, covered in rubble, clothes torn, and body scratched, but smiling, laughing. Kouta began to climb, laugh echoing over the sea as he neared the top of the cliff.

It was gone. Everything was gone. Everything except for Kouta, Hideyoshi, and the garden. Hideyoshi was finally free. Kouta had saved him. Now he could return to his true home, and take the throne back from his conniving twin sister. But she would not give it up so easily.

When a great portion of a well-known cliff face fell into the sea, it did not go unnoticed. When the dead bodies of four hundred warrior-beasts which once guarded the empress' brother were found, word traveled fast. And when the empress heard that her brother had been spotted on a forest path with a mysterious traveling companion, she flew into a rage.

Empress Yuuko would not allow her brother to take her throne away from her, and to prevent that from happening, he had to perish. As long as he was alive, her reign would be questioned, and she had allowed that scrutiny to continue for far too long. The road was long between the imperial palace and the place where the palace on the cliffside once stood, and full of dangers. Prince Hideyoshi would not be alive much longer if his sister had her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually know quite a bit about traditional Japanese architecture, and traditional Japanese castles are pretty much the most earthquake safe places on the planet, so realistically, this probably wouldn't happen, but it's a fairytale and I'm the Narrator so what I say goes. Love y'all.
> 
> <3 Raaor!


	3. The Betrayal in the Nearest Village

The prince and the ninja had not been traveling long, when they came upon their first obstacle. Seeing their fine clothes, a band of thieves thought to ambush them. They appeared suddenly on the road, and surrounded the pair.

"Surrender your valuables!" demanded the leader of the thieves. "Gold, jewels, the clothes off your backs!"

"We don't have any gold or jewels," Kouta said, standing protectively in front of the prince, and shielding him. "But we'll trade you our clothes for yours."

"Yes," Hideyoshi agreed, magic seeping into his voice despite his confusion, fully supporting his love's strange request. "Exchange us for your own clothes, and we will gladly give you ours."

The proposal bewildered the thieves, but they found that for some reason they could not refuse, and after confirming that there was indeed nothing else of value to steal, they agreed, and two of their number offered their threadbare garments in exchange for the silken robes which had come from the palace on the cliffside. The two groups parted ways, both equally perplexed by the encounter.

"Why did you do that, Kouta?" Hideyoshi couldn't help but ask.

"We'll be more inconspicuous this way, and safer," Kouta explained. "Don't you realize how fast we were targeted by bandits dressed like we were? Better not to stick out."

With that the two continued their journey to the nearest village unobstructed. When they reached the village, however, it wasn't long before the prince was recognized. Hideyoshi had passed through this village on his way to the palace on the cliffside for the first time eight years before, and met some of the villagers. Meeting a prince, especially one as beautiful as Hideyoshi, was not something to be forgotten by a commoner to whom very few noteworthy things ever happened.

"Your highness?" A young woman, scarcely older than either Hideyoshi or Kouta, stopped the pair. She was plain, but not unattractive, and remembered meeting the prince when she was young. "What are you doing here? The empress declared that she would have you killed as soon as she found you. Please, come inside before someone else recognizes you." The woman ushered the prince and his mysterious companion into her home.

"Thank you," Hideyoshi said, and exchanged bows with her while Kouta watched her every move with diligence.

"Of course, your highness." The woman smiled. "I'm so glad that you're free now. Oh, but I haven't introduced myself, my name is Hiromi. Your highness probably doesn't remember, but we met once before, when you passed through here on your way to the palace on the cliffside."

"Of course I remember. When one is alone, one must endeavor to recall everyone they have known, or else go mad from loneliness." He did remember meeting Hiromi. She had been a little older than him, and he thought she might have resented him for being younger than her, and yet of higher station. He remembered being anxious at the time, about a lot of things, and being a little afraid of her, but she seemed to have become much kinder in the past eight years, and he smiled.

"You've grown into a lovely young woman, Hiromi," Hideyoshi said. "I wish to again express my gratitude for your assistance."

"It's no trouble at all your highness, you may stay with me as long as you need. I'll make some tea, and prepare a room for you and your servant. I'm afraid my family only has one empty room to spare."

"Kouta is not my servant, but my very close friend. So one room will be quite acceptable, I assure you." Hiromi nodded and left the room.

"You shouldn't have told her my name," Kouta said coldly. "You met her once, but we don't _know_ her."

"She offered us a place in her home for protection. I think we can afford her a little trust." Hideyoshi argued.

"It is not in my nature to trust."

"You trust me, don't you?"

"With my heart and soul, I do. But not as a judge of safety, and definitely not as a judge of character."

"And why not?" The prince pouted.

"Upon our first meeting you jumped off a cliff and befriended a ninja assassin. All those years alone have warped your reason when it comes to these things."

That night, Kouta snuck out of the room he shared with his love to spy on their host. Creeping, silent and unseen, into Hiromi's room, he saw that a candle was lit, and she was writing a letter. It was a letter to the empress. Hiromi had expected to receive a reward for her valuable information, and for tricking the prince into staying with her while she waited for the empress to claim him, but she had underestimated the prince's mysterious companion.

Upon discovering her traitorous intentions, Kouta dispatched her with implements found in her own room, and lit the letter she had been writing on fire, leaving it's smoldering remains on the floor to set the house ablaze. He stole whatever money he could find, and carried the still sleeping prince out of the house, out of the village, and into the surrounding forest, believing they would be safer without any people around.

For Kouta, humans and animals could be killed with equal ease, but should either escape, only one could reveal their whereabouts to their enemy, the empress, and it wasn't any wild animal. They were deep in the forest when Kouta finally stopped, and laid the prince upon soft grass in a small clearing. The shinobi stood guard over the prince through the night while he slept.


	4. The Kindness of Strangers

Kouta had hidden some supplies in this forest before he first went to assassinate the prince, weapons in case his were somehow lost or stolen, first-aid supplies in case he was badly hurt, a spare set of ninja's clothes in case his were damaged. Ninjas must travel light, but it was always best to be prepared. When dawn broke, and the prince awakened, Kouta found the hollow tree in which he'd hidden his stash.

He treated the small cuts and scrapes he'd gotten during the battle on the now fallen cliffside, he did not change out of the thief's clothes he'd gotten but added the mask and leather _tabi_ from his ninja garb, and he carried all the weapons he now had at his disposal on his person, hidden in the loose folds of his clothes. He ignored the prince's stares until the last _kunai_ had been slipped into his sleeve.

"Something on your mind Hideyoshi?" Kouta asked, glancing at him.

"I was just thinking it's a shame that your handsome face is mostly covered now," Hideyoshi said. "I was also remembering when we first met. It seems so long ago." Kouta merely nodded. "Why did you take us away from Hiromi?"

"She was going to betray you," Kouta said. "I saw her writing a letter to the empress, giving you away, so I killed her."

"You needn't have _killed_ her!" Hideyoshi said, scandalized. "Was it not enough to sneak us both away during the night?"

"No."

Hideyoshi was silent for a moment, stunned and uncertain. "I see," he said finally. "I suppose the danger must be greater than I thought, then." Kouta sighed. He moved in close to his prince and placed a bandaged hand on his face.

"Hideyoshi, your sister is powerful. She's ruthless. And she fully intends to kill you, first chance she gets, by any means necessary." Kouta met Hideyoshi's eyes with intensity, trying to convey all the emotions he couldn't put into words. "But I will kill anyone and everyone before I let that happen, including myself if I have to."

"Kouta..."

"We need to get a move on if we want to get to the imperial palace. We still have quite the journey ahead of us, especially since we won't be able to use the main roads without being recognized."

"Should I disguise myself?"

"Can you? Any more than with the clothes we traded with those thieves, I mean?"

"I can use magical illusions to alter my appearance," Hideyoshi said. "I can make myself appear as a woman if that would help us travel with discretion. We can take the main roads that way, introducing ourselves as travelers, man and wife."

"That's a good idea, as long as we can pull it off."

"Worry not, as I have read every book on the subject of acting, and have been just waiting for the opportunity to put my knowledge to use." Hideyoshi extended and arm into the air, and took a deep bow, and when he stood, he looked much the same as he had before, except with a more developed bosom. "How do I look."

"Stunning as always, just bustier. Not that I don't like it, but you may want to change your hair color or something, more olive skin-tone, more angular eyes, rather than just a female version of yourself, seeing as you already look pretty feminine."

Hideyoshi pouted, but followed Kouta's suggestions. His hair darkening to a shiny raven black, wide eyes narrowing, pale skin shadowing. When he was done, Kouta didn't look happy. "What's wrong now?" Hideyoshi demanded.

"Nothing, just... you don't look like _you_."

"That's the point isn't it?"

"You're right, but..." Kouta sighed. "Let's go."

They traveled along the main roads until they had to stop, before the sun had reached its highest point in the sky, because Prince Hideyoshi was unused to such strenuous activity, and he needed to rest and eat something. He stopped and sat upon a large boulder at the side of the road while Kouta searched nearby for any safe, fruit-bearing plants which could provide sustenance for the prince.

Kouta was picking berries when he heard wheels and hooves on the road, and by the time those sounds stopped, he was hidden nearby ready to pounce upon whoever had stopped their cart near his prince.

"What's a young lady like yourself doing alone on the side of the road?" A voice asked, and Kouta could see a young man speaking to Hideyoshi. There was a second young man still sitting on the cart, and judging from the contents, the pair were farmers, taking their wares to the next town to be sold.

"Oh, I'm not alone," Hideyoshi said, even his voice disguised as a woman's. "My husband and I are travelers, but I had to stop to rest. He went looking for some food."

"I see," the young man said. "Your husband is a lucky guy to marry someone as beautiful as you. Where are you two headed?"

"The imperial city," Hideyoshi said, and Kouta tried not to groan. Just because he was disguised didn't mean it was suddenly okay to trust strangers, women were especially vulnerable to the attacks and deceptions of strange men.

"Really? That's pretty far. We'd be happy to give you and your husband a lift to the next town if you want."

"Akihisa!" called the other from the cart. "We can't afford to dawdle, and we don't have room for passengers!"

"We can fit two people, Yuuji. Don't be rude!" At least Kouta knew their names now, in case he had to hunt them down and kill them later. He stepped into the open.

"Are these gentlemen bothering you, my dear?" he asked Hideyoshi.

"Oh, no. They offered us a ride to the next town."

"Well, thank you sirs, but we couldn't accept," Kouta tried to turn them down politely while subtly letting Hideyoshi know that he shouldn't have let it come to this.

"Come on, I insist," Akihisa said. "Climb aboard and we'll get you on your way." Kouta climbed cautiously into the back of the cart, prepared for some kind of trap or attack, and helped Hideyoshi in after him. From the front of the cart, he heard the two young men arguing in hushed tones and listened intently.

"You _idiot_ , Akihisa," said the second one, Yuuji. "They could be con artists or bandits or something. You can't just trust strangers you see on the side of the road and offer them a ride."

"I'm sorry, but she looked so exhausted, and worried," Akihisa defended. "I couldn't just leave her there if she needed help. Besides it's not like we're going out of our way."

"And if we get robbed by these two, and our harvest gets stolen?" Yuuji said, "You prepared to starve for another two months while we have to sell our reserve harvest to get by?"

"Well I—sorry Yuuji..." Yuuji sighed.

"Whatever, just don't do stupid stuff like this again, you moron," Yuuji said. "And not a word about this to Shouko or I'm telling your sister you made us stop so you could talk to a pretty girl."

"I promise I'll keep this between us!" Akihisa insisted hurriedly. Apparently he was pretty terrified of his sister, as was Yuuji of this Shouko person. Based on their conversation, it seemed that they really had just stopped to help because one of them was a kind-hearted idiot, and Kouta sighed with relief, though he kept his guard up.

"You need to stop putting your trust in strangers like this, Hideyoshi," Kouta said quietly, so as not to be overheard by the others. "Just because you're disguised, doesn't mean you're safe. Don't forget that your sister knows about your magic, so she might be able to find you even if you don't look like yourself. You can't trust anyone until you take her out of power."

"Not even you?"

"I am a dangerous shinobi who's currently betraying the empress herself. No one should ever trust me."

"I trust you."

"You're a fool."

"I love you."

"That only makes you more of a fool."

"You love me too."

"Yeah, I do... guess even I can be a bit of a fool." Hideyoshi smiled with a stranger's face and it made Kouta wish that they could reach the imperial city as fast as possible so he could see his true face once more.

They reached the town without incident, and Akihisa offered them some food from the cart before they parted ways, which they gratefully accepted. They continued down the road as the day progressed. As the sun began to sink past the horizon once more, they made camp in the forest. Kouta allowed himself to sleep lightly that night, but their journey was far from over.


	5. The Woman with the Ono

The days passed slowly for Kouta, each one marred by stress, exhaustion, anxiety. He had been worried that Hideyoshi's kind and trusting nature would be a constant source of trouble, but as it turned out, Hideyoshi was quite good at staying in character, inarguably better than Kouta was, and played the role of the wife quite convincingly.

However, that was only the case when there were people to act for. When they were alone, they could be themseleves, and when they were far between towns, they would detour away from the road, and Hideyoshi could let his magical disguise fall away, allowing Kouta to once more see his prince's true face, knowing soon enough they would have to return to the main road and Hideyoshi would re-don the disguise.

As they were nearing the end of their journey, with only a day left until they reached the palace, a monkey happened to see them walking out of sight of humans, Hideyoshi undisguised. This monkey was no ordinary critter, however. It was trained to act in liaison to one of Empress Yuuko's top spies, a warrior woman by the name of Aiko Kudou, and it recognized the prince, and reported back to its master.

A day away from reaching the castle, the prince and the ninja were ambushed by a woman with hair the color of limes, and a monkey on her shoulder, wielding a warrior's _ono_ , an axe.

"Well well well, if it isn't the fugitive prince," the woman remarked, smiling pleasantly, leaning back on the long handle of her weapon. "And who's the handsome man you're traveling with?"

"Let me guess, the empress sent you for her brother?" Kouta said, pushing Hideyoshi behind him protectively, and taking up a fighting stance stance.

"Not so much for her brother himself as for her brother's head." The woman's smile didn't waver, nor did she take any sort of action in preparation for a fight, but Kouta was wary of her all the same. "My name is Aiko Kudou, and I'm here to kill the prince. Now why don't you get out of my way, little man."

Aiko was not dressed like a warrior. She wore a flowery kimono, draped more loosely than was proper, and her feet were bare. When Kouta was younger, his masters would often scold him for being too easily distracted by womanly wiles like hers, but that weakness had been beaten out of him, and rather than seeing the harmless woman she tried to present herself as, he recognized her for what she was: a threat. The axe she carried was not the weapon of a dainty woman playing at soldier. To carry an uncommon weapon like that, she would have to be strong and very skilled.

"You can lay a hand on Hideyoshi over my cold, rotting corpse," Kouta told her, eyes stone-cold as he stared her down.

"Who are you to address royalty so familiarly, I wonder..." she shifted her axe into a position more suited to attacking, and sunk into a fighting stance. "No matter, I'll just kill you, too."

Kouta shouted to Hideyoshi to hide as the fight began, and the prince ran for the cover of the tree line. When he saw the monkey chase after his prince, Kouta threw a _shuriken_ with wicked speed and accuracy and struck the creature down.

"How dare you!" Aiko screamed as she saw he companion fall dead to the ground, and she redoubled the ferocity of her attacks. Aiko was indeed a strong opponent, but Kouta was stronger, and he dispatched her without mercy.

When she was dead, Kouta found his prince, and took him away from that place where she had died. There was no cause for Hideyoshi to see such carnage, no need for him to sully his soul with the images of such violent and dishonorable acts.


	6. The Journey's End

It was morning when they finally reached the palace. As soon as they arrived Hideyoshi shed his enchanted disguise. The empress was informed, and she met them at the top of the palace steps. She was furious that her brother was still alive, and that he had come to the palace, undoubtedly to take her throne. When she recognized her brother's companion and protector as the _shinobi_ she had hired to kill him, her rage only intensified.

"You!" she sneered disdainfully. "You would dare betray me? You would betray your empress?" The ninja did not respond.

"You forced me to live in utter isolation, completely cut off from the world, while you stole my throne and my position after our parents passed without even informing me of their condition!" Hideyoshi accused. Kouta had seen his prince, sad, and lonely, and hurt, but this was the first time he'd ever seen him _angry_.

"How did you even survive to get here?" Yuuko demanded. "How could you and one shinobi get past the spirit-servants, and the warrior-beasts, and all the spies, warriors, and assassins I sent for you? How are either of you still alive?"

"You underestimate Kouta," Hideyoshi said.

"Kouta?"

"I killed the four-hundred warrior-beasts, and the nine spirit-servants, and I destroyed the palace on the cliffside," Kouta said. "I killed your spies, and defeated your warriors and took out your assassins, and if his highness asks me, I'll kill you too."

"You may have beaten _them_ , but you will not overcome the might of the entire imperial guard!" Yuuko screeched. "Guards! Capture them! I'll have them executed before nightfall!" But the guards did not respond to her command. "Guards!" she screamed again. One by one, every member of the imperial guard took a knee.

"Forgive us, your majesty, but we will no longer follow your orders," said the leader. "Your brother is the rightful emperor, and your rule has been self-serving and unjust."

"I do not wish for any of this sister," Hideyoshi said, quietly fuming, but maintaining his composure. "But if you do not wish to die, you must surrender the throne to me immediately." Kouta drew a pair of _sai_ and held one in each hand in preparation to do his prince's bidding. 

Abandoned, and with no other option, Yuuko sank to her knees in despair, and surrendered her throne to her brother. She was imprisoned, and her brother was, that very evening, crowned the emperor.


	7. Epilogue

After failing to complete a mission for which he was hired, Kouta could not return to the life of a ninja, but the new emperor was more than happy to accept him into the palace. Hideyoshi named Kouta one of his highest generals, though as the years progressed, many of the other generals and palace staff believed that the position was given because of personal favor between the two, and not actual skill. The nature of their relationship was no secret.

"I don't see why the emperor's glorified concubine should sit at the same table as the rest of us," one of the newer generals would one day remark. "He's been here for longer than I have, and he never contributes anything to these meetings." He hadn't known that both the emperor and his 'glorified concubine' were within earshot.

"General," Emperor Hideyoshi said calmly, "the quiet man you so abhor was once an elusive ninja, and though that was years ago, I assure you he still has the skills to kill you swiftly and easily, despite the military seniority to perceive yourself to have. If a premature death is not your wish, I suggest you bite your tongue."

It was then that one of the older generals told the newcomer the story of how Emperor Hideyoshi claimed his throne, and why so many threats to the country seemed to die abruptly and unexpectedly before they could attack it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have now officially written half of the fan fictions for this ship, and a much higher percentage by word count. If anyone has suggestions for something I could write about these two I'm all ears... or... eyes, since it would be written... point being, I fully intend to write more of these boys but I'm terrible at coming up with ideas so... Love y'all!
> 
> <3 Raaor!


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